Is Jair Jurrjens the Braves' real ace?

"Even last year, his first full year in the big leagues, his maturity level was way ahead of the normal 21-year-old kid," Braves pitching coach Roger McDowell said. "His work ethic is tremendous; his feel for the game is tremendous. Every day he comes to the ballpark he wants to learn. He takes things in. He listens to people. He never comes to the ballpark satisfied. He wants to get better every day."

Jurrjens, 23, enters Tuesday night's game against Pittsburgh with a 5-3 record and a 2.84 ERA, seventh-best in the National League and 12th in the majors. Last season he led the Braves in wins, starts, innings and strikeouts.

"You can never be a big shot," Jurrjens said. "There is always room for improvement. Even when I throw a good game, there is always something I can do better. I don't want to be happy with what I achieve right now, I want to be happy with what I can achieve later in the season. That's what's keeping me motivated right now. Keep working hard every start."

Even as Mike Hampton, John Smoltz, Tom Glavine and Tim Hudson were injured, Jurrjens was a sponge — asking questions and seeking advice from the veterans. Jurrjens and Hudson went over scouting reports together.

"It was nice to sit down with him and say 'Look at this,' " Hudson said. "We'd just look at tendencies, look at film, look at what pitches they are handling. Just really find out who's coming in swinging a hot bat. It's not necessarily the superstar on the other team that's locked in, sometimes it can be the number-eight hitter, or the leadoff hitter, who's locked in. You need to know that."

Jurrjens, a native of Curacao, finished last season 13-10 with a 3.68 ERA and was third in NL Rookie of the Year voting. Still, as he stretched deeper than ever into a season, his numbers dipped. He went 5-7 with a 4.48 ERA over his last 15 starts.

It was during that slide that Jurrjens went back to one of the veterans seeking advice.

"In the first couple of weeks in September, I was running the same amount I was running at the beginning of the season," Jurrjens said. "I think my body was tired by September. I was getting tired in the first and second inning and I said 'Why am I getting tired, I run so much.' I went to Smoltz asking him 'I'm running and I'm still getting tired' and he said 'Maybe it's time for you to back off from running because it's so late in the season. By you running so much before your start, you don't have enough energy.'

"I just started running once a week. The last few starts have been awesome. The thing I was happy about is that I found something that's going to work for me. I'm going to stick to it. It's something I didn't know about because it was my first time pitching in September."

The growth of the young pitcher continues. There are more lessons to be learned.

"He's getting better and better with each start," catcher Brian McCann said. "The older he's getting the more he is realizing what he can and can't do. What he did last year was phenomenal, and he's building off that."